Living in the Image of God M03S17
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to illustrate a motivation for service fundamental to leading or following: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” To serve in humility, elevate others in your mind to the status of master and humble yourself to the status of servant; recognize the master’s need; and provide for the need diligently, wholeheartedly, and in humility, as a servant would to a master. By washing his disciples’ feet, Christ conveys a message that a call to lead or follow is a call to service: to humble self to serve others as a servant would serve a master. God promises blessing to those that serve in humility.
We discuss an interaction between Jesus and his disciples when he washed their feet individually to teach service in humility. Jesus humbled himself to the status of servant and elevated his disciples in his mind to the status of master. Then he washed their feet individually as a servant would wash the feet of a master. He did this to teach the principle of humble yourself to serve others.
In several previous studies (such as Call to Compassion Example—Good Samaritan), we describe compassion as an act of providing service to alleviate the need of others. We focused on the category of compassion whereby a person more capable provides goods or service to alleviate the need of a person less capable: such as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan that describes a person providing for the need of a robber victim that was incapable of helping himself. However, the current bible study focuses on a category of compassion whereby the service provider is motivated by humility but not necessarily by a superior capability to provide the service.
Compassion in humility describes a motivation for service that is fundamental to leading or following. Christ demonstrated the principle by washing his disciples’ feet: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” [Matthew 20:26–27]. To explain the interaction, he declared: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” [John 13:14]. Therefore, by washing his disciples’ feet, Christ conveys a message that a call to lead or follow is a call to service—to humble self to serve others, even as a servant would serve a master. God promises blessing to those that serve in humility: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” [John 13:17].
“Compassion” and “Compassion in Humility”
Let’s begin by understanding the difference between “compassion” and “compassion in humility.” Generally, in a call to compassion, God alerts a person to provide goods or service for the benefit of a person less capable. Thus, compassion describes an intervention from an upper level of a human-relationship ladder to alleviate a need at a lower level. A person more capable provides goods or service to alleviate the need of another less capable.
Christ describes compassion through the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Call to Compassion Example—Good Samaritan), whereby a more-capable person intervened to care for a robber victim that was not capable of caring for himself. In another example (Human Interactions with God in Call to Compassion), Jesus guided his disciples to provide food for a crowd of thousands in the wilderness that had no means of providing food for themselves at the location.
In contrast, “compassion in humility” describes an intervention from a lower level of a human-relationship ladder to alleviate a need at an upper level. The service provider is motivated by humility but not necessarily by a superior capability to provide the service. The person sees himself or herself as servant to provide for the need of others as master. A person needs to humble self to intervene as from a lower level to provide service to another. Jesus illustrated “compassion in humility” by washing his disciples’ feet, as a servant would wash the feet of a master.
Jesus Washes Disciples’ Feet
The interactions occurred during an evening meal with his disciples [John 13:4–5]: Jesus “got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” Despite his status as Lord and Teacher, Jesus humbled himself to serve his disciples. He washed their feet, individually, diligently, and wholeheartedly: as a servant would do for a master. He elevated his disciples in his mind to the status of master and at the same time humbled himself to the status of servant.
Resistance to Humility
The intended recipient of an act of “compassion in humility” could resist the offer. In that case, the offeror is responsible to explain the offer to the intended recipient, to convince them that the offer is sincere and wholehearted.
As an example, Peter tried to resist being washed by Jesus [John 13:6–8]: “He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ‘No,’ said Peter, ‘you shall never wash my feet.’” However, Jesus explained that his offer to wash Peter’s feet was sincere and wholehearted: “Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me’” [John 13:8]. Then Peter surrendered and accepted the offer [John 13:9]: “‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!’”
The example illustrates that the offeror of an act of “compassion in humility” should be prepared to explain the offer to convince the others to accept.
Message Summary from Jesus
Jesus summarized the message of washing his disciples’ feet. From his position as Lord and Teacher, he humbled himself to wash their feet. He did so to illustrate the principle of Humble yourself to serve others, because God promises blessing for those that serve in humility: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” [John 13:17].
The Gospel according to Matthew provides another summary of Christ teaching service in humility. There he said that whoever wants to become great among others must humble self to serve in humility. That is, elevate others in your mind to the status of “master” and humble yourself to the status of servant, to serve them as a servant would serve a master: “…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” [Matthew 20:26–27].
Summary of What We Learned
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet to illustrate a motivation for service fundamental to leading or following: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”
To serve in humility, elevate others in your mind to the status of master and humble yourself to the status of servant; recognize the master’s need; and provide for the need diligently, wholeheartedly, and in humility, as a servant would to a master. By washing his disciples’ feet, Christ conveys a message that a call to lead or follow is a call to service: to humble self to serve others as a servant would serve a master. God promises blessing to those that serve in humility.